by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer

I originally thought SeaClyff Retreat was the perfect personal space to use as a luxurious modern mansion, but recently I’ve changed my mind. It’s actually that and the perfect space to use as an art museum.

As soon as I saw SeaClyff the first time, I planned to own it, and I knew just how I wanted to decorate it. For one thing, Game Mechanics made the absolutely perfect furniture for this space with their “Elegant” line, such as one of their table and chairs sets for the dining room, the indoor bar with chairs for the game room, and the sofa and chair for the living room. Adding a few pieces from their “Contender” line for the exterior made sense, too. I love the sporty and fun look of their backyard bar with stools and the exceptionally fun racing pieces, such as the engine grill, tire cooler, and checkered sports canopy.

But after I had finished all of my decorating, I kept seeing a different image for SeaClyff in my mind. A lot of it had to do with the wonderful customizable murals in the main (living) room of the space. As you may know, three of the murals were painted by Home users with exceptional artistic talent. I didn’t want to block any of the murals with furniture, although that wall seemed to be the obvious spot to place a sofa. And it took some time arranging and re-arranging the furniture to find a way that I thought would enhance this incredible feature.

My second reason was that for quite a while now, I’ve wanted a personal space on Home to decorate as an art museum, to show off the wonderful pieces I’ve obtained through the years. I love decorating spaces with different themes, such as holidays. And I simply love art museums in real life. So, if you have “works of art” in your furniture or ornaments collection, you too may want to think about creating an art museum on Home.

So the other day I went to my SeaClyff Retreat estate and selected the “tag/untag all for removal” button under the “organize” tab for decorating and started over. If you love to decorate and want to re-decorate a space from scratch, this is a very handy tool to use. Next I removed all of the items in my current-use folders to clear space. Then I went through every tab in my storage area to select any item that seemed like an art or museum piece and tagged them to be moved into my current-use folders. This suggestion was given to me several years ago, and I find it really helpful to have all the items that I may want to use in a redecorating project — and no other items — in my current-use folders. In this case, that included statuary, fountains, vases, miscellaneous art pieces, a few shelves and tables for display purposes, and the red velvet rope and stands, which are perfect for blocking the “public” from getting too close to the art.

As I have quite a few items in specific categories, such as Greek, ancient Egyptian, Japanese and ultra-modern, I included all of those pieces, too. It was my idea to make a room featuring each of these categories, as is often seen in real life museums. Except for a few specific wall items that I included, I added simple and ornate frames in the wall spots to display pictures that fit the theme for each room. I also did my best to make the kitchen look like a cafeteria by adding a large coffee maker, trash cans, and stools at the side counter. A cash register would really help set the tone here. I also added several tables with umbrellas outside on the patio just off the kitchen, to make it look like an outdoors public eating area. Benches, trash cans, and shrubbery near the wall on the larger patio area also add to the public look of this space.

Obviously, I could give you an exact description of how I re-decorated SeaClyff Retreat, but if this idea appeals to you, you’ll want to make your own specific decorating decisions, with items that you have already or purchase to add to your collection. Some suggestions I have for you to consider are having themes for each room as I did or, if you have enough pieces, make an entirely theme-specific museum, such as a modern art museum or a hands-on children’s museum or a natural history museum — especially if you’re a Granzella fossil collector but didn’t purchase the Fossil Museum space to show them off. As well lit as this estate is, it would make a wonderful space for themed dioramas.

You very likely have your own ideas for a museum or an art gallery too, of course. I strongly recommend SeaClyff Retreat as an estate to purchase for this use, or as your first or best personal mansion.

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One Response to “SeaClyff Retreat Revisited”

1. Gideon says:

   October 23, 2013 at 1:08 am

   woo… you know you’ve been away from Home a while when you read a re-visited article of a place you’ve never even seen. lol

   Nice write up Kass. Seems like an interesting space.

   Reply